6 - Sphaeromatidae::“Cute As Buttons”

Vandeloscia Roman, 1977
Vandeloscia culebrae (Moore, 1901)
Figure 106M
VALVIFERA 251
DIAGNOSIS 8 5.0 mm, 9 6.1 mm. Tiny lateral tubercles present on per­
eonites. Endopod of pleopod 1 in 8 with small scalelike subapical process on
laterally folded tip.
RECORDS Florida Keys; U.S. Virgin Islands; Puerto Rico; under decaying
plant material, especially Thalassia testudinea accumulated along beach drift
line,
Vandeloscia riedli (Strouhal, 1966)
Figure 106N
DIAGNOSIS 8 5.9 mm, 9 6.0 mm. Tiny obsolete tubercles present on all
pereonites. Endopod of 8 pleopod 1 with large scalelike subapical process on
laterally folded tip.
RECORDS Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico; Ambergris Cay, Belize; Barbuda;
Venezuela; Brazil.
Gulf of Aqaba; Red Sea; northeastern coast of Africa; Madagascar; Bay of
Bengal; St. Helena Is.
Suborder Valvifera Sars, 1882
DIAGNOSIS Pereopodal coxae, in addition to usual dorsal coxal plates, ex­
panded ventrally to form plates. Penes situated ventrally on articulation be­
tween pereon and pleon, or on pleonite 1. Pleonites and pleotelson variously
fused. Uropods forming operculum covering over pleopods.
Key to families of Valvifera
1. Body often geniculate, flexed between pereonites 4 and 5; anterior
pereopods setose for feeding, posterior pereopods ambulatory
Arcturidae
Body never geniculate; all pereopods ambulatory Idoteidae